To Riya-Ray on Your 5th Birthday

Oh my dearest big little Riya-Ray

You won’t believe how hard it is to sit down and write these letters to you*.  Not because it’s hard to find something to say (that’s pretty easy) but because it means acknowledging that another year has come and gone.  It means really paying attention to how you have grown and changed in that year.

*Here’s the one I wrote when you were four, three, two and one.

It’s both wonderful and sad all at the same time.

I always joke with you that I’m going to put a brick on your head to keep you small.  But in truth, I don’t want you to stay small.  As much as I enjoyed your baby years, your wobbly toddler years and your now willfully defiant but wickedly funny pre-tween years, I am so enjoying watching you grow.  I want you (and your sister) to grow up to be confident, capable and grounded women and the only way to get you there is to let go of those yearnings to bring back the baby years and help you along as you go.

And really, watching you grow and learn is far more entertaining than sleepless nights, tantrums and potty training.

You have a fiery temper and are quick to thump anyone that dares to defy you, but you are quick to forgive and share.  Routine is paramount to anything else and this even goes as far as you making sure your sneak up on me in the middle of the night to give me kiss before you go back to your room (after you have gone to the loo).

My sweet girl, you fill my heart entirely, squishing into all the little cracks and crevices.  I love you!